Major League Baseball

Reyes, Murphy add to Mets injury woes

Published Aug. 7, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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The Mets have lost Daniel Murphy for the season and are likely to miss Jose Reyes for around 10-12 games after both endured injuries in Sunday's costly 6-5 defeat to the Atlanta Braves, the New York Post reported Monday.

A major league source confirmed Sunday night that Murphy's season was at an end after his left knee was crushed at second base by sliding Jose Constanza.

An MRI exam revealed that Murphy sustained a torn medial collateral ligament in the knee, the source said. Murphy missed the entire 2010 season with the same injury in his right knee.

Reyes appears headed back to the disabled list with a strained left hamstring sustained earlier in the loss at Citi Field. The "mild" strain is essentially the same injury that cost him 12 games on the DL last month.

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson confirmed Sunday that both players were being sent for magnetic resonance imaging tests at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

The injuries were the latest blow for a team that has been without Ike Davis (ankle) for most of the season and lost David Wright for two months to a stress fracture in his lower back. Murphy had emerged as a consistent force in the Mets' lineup, batting .320 with six homers and 49 RBIs.

The Mets (56-57) have for years seen their roster -- and, in turn, their hopes of competing for a playoff berth -- ravaged by their collective inability to remain healthy, and this season has been no different, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Along with Wright, Reyes and Davis, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Angel Pagan, Chris Young and Taylor Buchholz already had spent much or all of this regular season on the disabled list, a dire infirmary roll call that only lengthened Sunday.

First it was Reyes, the National League's leader in batting average (.336) and triples (16) and a contender for its Most Valuable Player award. He left the game quietly, without apparent incident. One minute he was playing shortstop. The next, Willie Harris was pinch-hitting for him in the second inning.

Reyes' left hamstring had stiffened as he ran out a first-inning ground ball, according to Alderson.

Then it was Murphy, who ranked fifth in the NL in hitting (.318) entering Sunday. He left in the seventh inning following his ugly collision/tangle with Constanza, taking a spike to his left knee as Constanza stole second base.

Murphy accepted the throw from catcher Ronny Paulino and, instead of tagging Constanza, slapped his glove down on second base. Constanza slid in safely, and his legs rose as he made contact with the bag, driving the bottoms of his spikes into Murphy's knee.

The Mets said Constanza's slide was clean, The Post reported Monday.

"I was sick to my stomach for Murph," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He just kept saying, 'Get me off the field.' That's all he kept saying."

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